Bundle tie

ABSTRACT

A BUNDLE TIE IS DISCLOSED AND COMPRISES AN ELONGATED FLEXIBLE STRAP FOR TYING A BUNDLE OF CABLES OR THE LIKE, THE STRAP BEING OF GENERALLY CONSTANT EXTERNAL CONFIGURATION AND ADAPTED TO HAVE ITS ENDS PLACED IN OVERLAPPED POSITION TO PERMIT MATERIAL FROM ONE END OF THE STRAP TO BE EXTRUDED INTO APERTURES IN THE OPPOSITE END OF THE STRAP.

Jan. 12, 1971 R, A Log ET AL 3,553,793

' BUNDLE TIE Filed Nov. 12, 1968 INVENTOR. QoBERT ALVIN LONG WILUAE'QDERKK GVER United States Patent 3,553,793 BUNDLE TIE Robert AlvinLong and William Roderick Over, Harrisburg, Pa., assignors to AMPIncorporated, Harrisburg,

Filed Nov. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 774,745 Int. Cl. B65d 63/00 U.S. CI. 24-16Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bundle tie is disclosed andcomprises an elongated flexible strap for tying a bundle of cables orthe like, the strap being of generally constant external configurationand adapted to have its ends placed in overlapped position to permitmaterial from one end of the strap to be extruded into apertures in theopposite end of the strap.

In the electronic industry there are various applications involving theuse of a great number of electrical conductors disposed in closeproximity to each other. It is normally desirable to separate theconductors into discrete bundles and to secure the bundles together withsome form of a tie.

Various bundle ties are known in the prior art for securing a bundle ofconductors, cables or the like. The most frequent form of tie involves abelt-like strap having a slotted portion at one end and a series ofteeth extending along the strap. The strap is passed around the bundleand the teeth are ratcheted through the slot until the strap is securelyin position. There are several drawbacks of this type of strap. First,it involves a considerable waste of material in that there is alwaysexcess strap which serves no purpose and must be discarded.Additionally, many various lengths of straps must be stocked in order tocover a range of bundle sizes. Another drawback is that the tieappreciably increases the overall bundle size since the lockingarrangement on a strap produces a build-up of material around thebundle. These and other drawbacks of the prior art provide thebackground for the instant invention in which a continuous length ofstrap is employed, which strap may be selectively severed either beforeor after being applied to a bundle. A portion of the strap is overlappedadjacent its ends and the configuration ofthe strap permits it to fitsnugly around the bundle thus avoiding any appreciable size build-up.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a bundle tiewhich avoids the various drawbacks of the prior art devices.

Another object is to provide a bundle tie which is supplied inindeterminate length to avoid the necessity of storing multiple sizeties.

Another object is to provide a bundle tie of continuous hermaphroditicdesign.

A further object is to provide a tie which may be applied to a bundlethrough the use of a simple and inexpensive tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings in which likereference numerals refer to like parts:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bundle tie made in accordance with theteachings of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view showing the bundle tie of FIG. 1 in positionaround a bundle of cables;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the bundle tie in overlappedposition prior to securing the ends of the tie together; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 3 and taken along theline 4-4 of FIG. 2 showing the bundle 3,553,793 Patented Jan. 12, 1971tie after an extruding operation locking the two parts of the bundle tietogether.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED- EMBODIMENT The attainments of the presentinvention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon areading of the following detailed description "when taken in conjunctionwith the drawings in which there is shown and described an illustrativeembodiment of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that thisembodiment is not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of theinvention but is given for purpose of illustration in order that othersskilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principlesthereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they maymodify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditionsof a particular use.

Turning now to the drawings there is shown a strap indicated generallyat 10 for securing a bundle of cables or the like 11. The term cable asused throughout the specification and claims is intened to cover anygenerally elongated member and is not restricted to electric cables. Thestrap 10 is sufliciently flexible to permit its being wrapped around thebundle and is conveniently formed of a thermoplastic material such asnylon. The configuration of the strap permits it to be manufactured byan extruding process thus materially reducing the overall manufacturingcost.

The strap has a generally constant cross-sectional configuration andcomprises an upper portion 12 and a lower portion 14. The upper portionis generally channel shaped. Portion 12 has a pair of upstanding legs 16disposed on either side of a rectangular recess to thus form the channelconfiguration. Lower portion 14 is generally rectangular and is of anoverall size to permit the portion 14 to be insertable within the recessof the upper portion 12. Portion 14 has a plurality of apertures 18extending therethrough, the apertures being regularly spaced along thelongitudinal extent of portion 14.

When it is desired to secure a bundle 11 of cables or the like the strap10 is placed loosely around the bundle and drawn into a position such asshown generally in FIG. 2. The strap would normally be supplied in acontinuous extruded form and would be severed to appropriate length bythe operator who is efiecting the tie. Suitable tooling may be providedfor drawing the strap sufiiciently taut to insure that all the cables inthe bundle are securely held. By' way of an example a tool may beprovided which engages the apertures 1-8 along both ends of the strapand pulls the strap ends together by force exerted on these apertures.

The amount by which one end of the strap should overlie the other endwill depend upon the particular size of the bundle being tied and thedesired amount of holding force. The amount of overlap shown in thedrawings is approximately equal to the distance occupied by six of theapertures 18 but this is given by way of illustration only and is notintended to be limiting.

In FIGS. 3 and 4 there is shown the method of securing one end of thestrap 10' to its opposite end after the strap is placed around thebundle 11. A pair of blunt punches 20 are shown and are arrangedalongopposite sides of portion 12 of the innermost end of the strap. Thepunches are contained in suitable tooling and are movable inwardlytoward the strap as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG. 3 and aresubsequently movable outwardly as indicated by the arrows shown in FIG.4. The punches 20 are positioned so as to be in alignment with theapertures 18 disposed along the outer strap layer. Movement of thepunches inwardly will cause the side 3 walls 16 of the inner strap layerto he extruded inwardly causing a portion of the material to flow intothe aperture 18 of the outer strap layer. When the punches are removedthe material will remain within aperture 18 as shown in FIG. 4 thuspreventing the strap ends from separating due to either tangential orradial forces. The amount of locking force between the strap ends willvary in accordance with the amount of overlap between the strap ends andthe number of apertures filled with extruded material.

Thus it can be seen that the bundle tie of this invention provides astrap of simple construction which is conveniently supplied in extrudedform and is subsequently punched to provide a series of apertures alongits length. The strap takes up a minimum amount of space around thebundle and may be tightened and locked by relatively simple tooling.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art andvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forthin the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by wayof illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended tobe defined in the following claims when viewed in their properperspective against the prior art.

We claim:

1. An elongated flexible strap for tying a bundle of cables or the likeand comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portionbeing substantially channel shaped and being of substantially constantcrosssection throughout the length of said strap, said lower portionhaving an external configuration receivable within said channel shapedupper portion, and a series of apertures along said lower portion forsecuring said strap to itself upon overlapping of said strap around abundle;

2. A strap as set forth in claim 1 wherein said lower portion is ofgenerally rectangular configuration.

3. A strap as set forth in claim 1 wherein said apertures are regularlyspaced along the entire length of said lower portion.

4. Assembling apparatus comprising a plurality of articles arranged in abundle, an elongated flexible strap extending circumferentially aroundsaid bundle and comprising an upper portion being substantially channelshaped and a lower portion being shaped to be receivable within saidupper portion, said strap having end portions overlapping each otherwhereby the lower portion of one end is received within the upperportion of the other end, a series of apertures along said lowerportion, and means extruded from said upper portion other end andextending into the apertures of said lower portion one end to therebyretain said strap around said bundle.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said articles compriseelongated electrical conductors and wherein said strap is formed of anon-conductive material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,649,363 11/ 1927 Parsons 2420X1,812,151 6/1931 Jacocks 29521X 2,023,059 12/1935 Vaughan 2420 2,163,0166/1939 Barker.

3,197,831 8/1965 Martin et al. 2416 THERON E. CONDON, Primary ExaminerN. ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 24s 74

